


Sleepwalking

by tinknevertalks



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: 5+1, Biting, Egypt, Episode Tag: Revelations pt2, F/M, Helen Magnus and her allergies acting up, Nikola the somnambulist, Oxford, Post Series, Vampirism, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 17:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20011828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinknevertalks/pseuds/tinknevertalks
Summary: Or, five times Nikola bit Helen whilst sleeping, and the one time he didn't.





	Sleepwalking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roguelightning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguelightning/gifts).



> I'm laying the blame firmly on RogueLightning for this one. [She sent me a post](https://tinknevertalks.tumblr.com/post/186488596869/simon-good-night-sleep-tight-dont-let-me) and like the weirdo I am, I grabbed it and _ran_. So this is for her, and for me, and for anyone else who wants it (but really it's hers).
> 
> Unbeta'd, so any/all mistakes are mine. Hope you all enjoy!

Helen knew, even before the Source Blood, that Nikola barely slept. "Three hours is enough," he'd tell her, before fiddling with ( _breaking_ ) something. Under pressure he'd sleep even less, a mad need to prove himself to himself, catching an hour's doze here and there. But she needed him, as well as James and Nigel, close by, and had forced the three to stay in her home for the time being.

As she brushed her hair before bed, the door opened behind her. It could be only one of three people, and as Nigel smelled of cheap cigars and brandy, and James had a different rhythm to his walk, it had to be Nikola. "Is anything the matter?" she asked, still studiously brushing her hair by her vanity table. There was a tangle that would not budge and-- "Nikola!"

His lips had latched on to her neck, on the exact place that made her knees go weak, and had busily started sucking motions. "Really, Nikola, that's…" Her voice trailed off. His teeth started nibbling, warming and massaging the flesh between them. Had she not been sat down she would've been a melted puddle of nerves on the floor. "Oh…"

The heavy languid weight in her muscles jumped when the massaging became rougher, his teeth sharper, his nibbles now bites. She liked it, but what on Earth possessed him to try biting in the first place? Looking at him with her mirror, she noticed the drowsiness of his half lidded eyes. She'd seen somnambulation before (a memory of her late mother flashed by her eyes). Taking pity on him, she put down the brush, stood up and gently started guiding him back to bed, his mouth on her neck all the while.

She'd explain in the morning.

\--

The visit to America was less to see him and more to start up a new Sanctuary, but, "Two birds, one stone," she explained over a shared bottle of wine. She didn't drink much, happy just to spend time listening to (and arguing with) Nikola as he'd pontificate about the latest developments in the scientific world.

The clock chimed two. "I really must get to bed," she told him, smiling at him. Sat on the sofa, he had long since loosened his cravat, his hair beginning to spike in places, giving him a much softer look. 

"I'll walk you there," he proposed. Helen prayed he wouldn't notice her heart rate spike (or if he did, that he wouldn't comment). She was no wide eyed innocent, but a walk to her room in her frame of mind might tip her hand to him. Really, he didn't need to know how deep her feelings for him ran.

An hour later, sat alone on the bed in her night clothes, Helen battled with her hair. The humidity of the summer weather was oppressive, the wet heat clinging to her like a heavy second skin. Already she felt cooler in the layer of cotton she wore, her arms and neck bare, but she needed to braid her hair up and out of the way. And to do that she needed to brush it, thoroughly.

She almost missed the quiet click of her door opening and shutting, but the smell of living electricity was a cloak Nikola wore with pride. "Niko--" The name changed to a sigh as his teeth found that one spot that made her knees turn to jelly. Over and over his teeth played with her neck, his hands creeping slowly around her waist, up to her breasts. He was so hot against her but… "Nikola?" 

No response, but the hands stopped moving. "Helen?"

She nodded, her movements slow. "You were sleepwalking."

His forehead dropped to her shoulder, his sigh warm against her back. She touched his hand still resting on her breastbone. "Get into bed. I'll be there shortly."

\--

Egypt. After the trials of the Great War, spending time away from the oppressive structure of Britain and the idiot policy makers was the balm needed for Helen's wounded soul. She'd been before as a younger lady, when she'd caught a dreadful chest infection, and it hadn't much changed. She and Nikola were further up the Nile than her previous visits, her last being in 1899, after John--

She stopped that train right in its tracks.

They were in the Valley of the Kings. Whilst Howard was busying himself with trying to find a tomb, Nikola was entertaining himself during the day with an ancient Sumerian vase decorated with a story about vampires. At night, he filled the silence with talk, about anything and everything. Some nights he'd help her with translations, others they would work with the few pieces of ancient Sumerian artefacts. Each night would end with him stroking her forehead as she tried to sleep.

This evening, all ready for bed with her hair pinned off her neck, she relaxed on the low sofa, reading. She had no idea what the words were, instead listening surreptitiously to Nikola mumbling by his desk as he scribbled notes. He'd been at it a few hours now; Helen had half a mind to make him stop, regardless of his vampire state, when he put his pen down and sighed. "Problems?" she asked gently.

Shaking his head, he joined her by the sofa, his shadow flickering in the lamp light (how he'd delighted in powering them himself). "Nothing a few hours of distracting you won't help."

Smirking, she put down her book to look at him fully. "And how do you plan to distract me, Mr Tesla?"

Reaching over, he brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. "I'm sure I can find a way."

Later, legs and sheets tangled, Helen woke to Nikola biting along her collar bone. His finger drew a possessive circle around her navel, the warmth of arousal pooling deliciously just below. She'd longed for this - quiet intimacy with someone who _knew_ her, not just a passing fancy - for such a time that a sudden anxiousness fractured the serenity. Needing space, she tried moving away.

Nikola kept nibbling.

"Let me go," she murmured, tapping his wrist with her fingertips. He mumbled something unintelligible, his mouth still on her skin. "Nikola, come on." Still he bit. "Nikola Tesla, if you don't unhand me instant I'll find the nearest telephone, call Edison and tell him he's the better inventor."

"Ouch, Helen," he grumbled, turning over and going back to sleep.

Casting one more worried glance over her shoulder, Helen left the bed, heart quivering for all the wrong reasons.

\--

"I still can't believe you think, "Kiss me, and I'll save your life," is an appropriate way to greet someone," Helen grumbled as they tramped across the moors.

"More than just appropriate, Helen, but _de rigueur_ ," Nikola explained. "Look at us. We're chasing after German spies in south west England. There should be books written about our adventures!"

Helen just shook her head. "Be quiet, Nikola. We're almost at the safe house."

"But this is boring if we don't talk," he admitted, pouting. "You've been in France so the only decent conversation I've had has been with a teacup."

"What about the officer you've been assigned?"

He snorted. "That cornhusker? He can't even pretend to understand me."

Helen narrowed her eyes. In the middle of the moor, she turned and faced him. "You know something, don't you? About--"

"About Officer Buckeye?" Nikola's face was impassive for a moment, before he quirked an eyebrow and ran his tongue along the underside of his teeth. Her eyes widened at the action, her whole body shivering when he came into her personal space, whispering, "Wouldn't you like to know?" His hand meandered across her belly to her hip, his grip tightening before his lips crashed against hers.

They had kissed before, many times, but this felt different. Everything clashed and coalesced, repelling and attracting like magnets, as if he were saying hello and goodbye in an instant. Grabbing his jacket, she equalled his fervour, running her fingers through his slicked back hair to muss it to perfection.

“Safe house?” he rasped against her neck.

“Half a mile away,” she replied, trying to draw breath. She almost yelped when he picked her up. “Nikola! What on Earth?”

“I’m not walking half a mile to have you too exhausted for bed,” he explained, shifting her so she rode his back. “Hold on.”

Hours later, after barely crossing the threshold of the door before tearing off each other’s clothes, and after Helen ate a tiny dinner (Nikola had laid her on the heavy oak table to have his dinner, his hair even spikier once he was done), they finally made it to bed. 

Separate beds.

In separate rooms.

“What did I ever do to James?” Nikola muttered as they closed their doors. Helen shook her head. She had notes to write, as well as information to read, without Nikola distracting her. Stripping off his shirt, she sat on the bed in her socks and underwear, a thick journal her only other item in the room. Winston had been in the midst of explaining the bare bones of Overlord to her when they'd heard a rumour about a high ranking spy on British soil. Why she and Nikola had been dispatched, she had no idea. She was glad to be out of London though - she hadn’t appreciated the insinuation that her only contribution was as James' paramour.

_"Old fashioned men in old fashion positions," James had murmured, squeezing her fingers. "We know the truth."_

The door opened and shut. Barely sparing a glance up, Helen said, "Really, Nikola, I haven't the time." Had she looked properly, her words would've died on her lips. Had she looked properly, she would've noticed his eyes.

But the War occupied all her thoughts until her brain switched off. Nikola, without saying a word, sunk to his knees next to the mattress, sinking his human teeth into her bare inner thigh. Another bite, higher up the leg and harder this time, and Helen whimpered, her body ready for whatever delights would come next. Wetness flooded her knickers, and she could smell her own arousal.

Bite. Bite. Pain.

Stinging and sharp, Nikola's vampire fangs pierced her skin, sucking the blood from her. Things started going hazy, the panic flooding her system making her heart beat faster, strength leaving her consciousness. As the world faded to black, her other leg jostled something.

"Helen?"

Slurred and sleepy, she replied, "Oh."

"Helen!"

\--

They hadn't stayed in the same place together for more than half a century, but Helen still felt a little calmer knowing Nikola wasn't out and about, causing havoc. She wouldn't go so far as to say her sleep was more restful, it wouldn't be until Ashley was home again, but… Her thoughts trailed away to days gone by, when they were all young and stupid and together against the world. Now both James and Nigel were dead. They had been the calming balms to Nikola's frightful ego, John's horrible temper and Helen's own bull headedness. She'd mourned for Nigel years ago, but it was nothing compared to the ache she now felt for James' passing.

Distraction was key. Work would get her through - it had done in the past. Hair tied in a ponytail, she had her back to one office door, poring over various journals and books. Soft footsteps heralded Nikola's imminent arrival, but Helen paid them no mind, his somnambulation the last thing she worried about.

(He had been so apologetic after the last bout of sleep biting, once he'd given her a blood transfusion, but time and circumstance had stopped him from resting anywhere near her again.)

"Whatever it is, Nikola, it can wait," she muttered, flicking a page. If she were just a touch more honest with herself, she would admit she was still extremely angry with him after his behaviour in Rome, and his pissing contest with John in Bhalasaam.

"I've missed you," he said, his tone gentle, flinging her memories straight back to Egypt. His hands ran down her arms as her back straightened, the sofa's back between them.

"Strange way of showing it." Her words were harsh but her tone was as gentle as his. "Nikola, I-- What are you doing?" 

"I've missed you," he repeated, biting gently. Her eyes closed in bliss. It felt so good to feel something other than an all consuming anger.

"What the hell? Magnus, are you ok?" Will was still yelling when Helen felt Nikola stiffen.

"Helen?" Her name was a low murmur in her ear, the confusion evident.

"Sit down," she instructed. "Not you, Will," she added.

He threw his hands up. "I give up." Shaking his head, he walked out as Nikola sauntered to the right side of the sofa.

"Now that we're alone," he tried, but the words died in the face of Helen's glare. "I'm sorry." He sat next to her, head leaning over the back rest. "I can't control when I sleepwalk."

"I know." Her hand found his. "That's why you get a door with a lock."

"I thought it was to keep me out of your wine cellar," he said, glancing sideways at her.

"That too," she said, laughing. In the firelight, his edges softened, she could see the young Serb she had befriended over a century ago. "You should sleep some more." Her tone was much too vulnerable for her liking.

"Help me to bed then?" He fluttered his eyelashes at her, the consummate coquette, distracting her from her woes.

"Your old enough to find it yourself, Nikola."

"But it's much more fun with your help."

"Cheeky prat."

He tilted his head, and that same vulnerability that Helen shied from he let shine, then let mutate into his usual shark like grin. "You really do still care for me."

\--

"So, do I get a room here or…?" Nikola leant on the door frame, one hand on his hip as he examined her face.

"Tired of sleeping rough?" she asked, resisting the urge to drag him by his tie and ravage him on the bed in her room, instead pressing her fingertip to his left lapel.

"If you consider the laboratory sleeping rough," he replied, moving his head closer to hers.

"If you don't like the lab…"

"I love the lab," he confirmed, "but my old, aching bones prefer a bed every now and then."

"You know, now that you mention it, I do have somewhere for you to sleep."

"Uh huh." His eyes flickered to her lips, a motion she didn't miss.

"Its nearby, too," she added, her hand doing what she had denied herself only moments before. "You won't have far to go to bite me."

"Not that I've ever complained." He followed her willingly into the large, indulgently decorated room.

"There's an excellent view of the waterfall." Tugging him closer, she smiled, glorying in the feel of his hands on her hips.

"You mentioned something about it being close by…"

His face was mere millimeters from hers. She didn't know what she wanted more - to kiss him or be kissed - when he moved, his mouth hovering over the pulse point in her neck. Her heartbeat quickened. Would he bite? Would he tease? Would he-- "Oh." A butterfly of a kiss landed on her neck.

"Where do you sleep?" he whispered, kissing just below her ear.

"Here, you prat." There was laughter in her voice as her fingers dug into his shoulder, her head tilted back in the universal language for more.

Stroking her hip, he smiled broadly. The pause made her look at him, her own smile widening as he said, "Then I better get us to bed."


End file.
